FTA: "As far as this church being against gays, that's absurdity. There are 18 people in this church who have been delivered, they're not homosexual anymore, but if they were they could still stay in the church," she said.

The word you're looking for is "brainwashed". And there are a fark of a lot more than 18 of them in your church I assure you.

Part of the reason it's so hard for me to find a decent date, living in North Carolina. Come on closet cases. Think of your fellow homosexuals. You may be denying some special someone out there your loving companionship.

"As far as this church being against gays, that's absurdity. There are 18 people in this church who have been delivered, they're not homosexual anymore, but if they were they could still stay in the church,"

TFA:"The pastor said to find out what my darkest secret was, and I was like, 'I'm never telling,' Lowry told WLOS. "They hit my head with fists and I was out on the floor, they held my hands and feet down and were pushing on my chest and I could barely breathe."

Hate to be debby-downer, but this sounds like attention whoring to me, especially considering the timing and the fact that this guy didn't bring this to the police in 2011.

... Having grown up in a church that was open and affirming (United Church of Christ), to the point of having attended a gay marriage ceremony, presided over by our pastors, when I was *five* (Mostly I remember being bored to tears, but, five), stuff like this always confuses the SHIAT out of me.

I realize now the UCC is a bit of a minority when it comes to churches (what with a history of being highly liberal and pro rights for all... to the point of appointing openly gay pastors as early as 1972), but, WHAT THE FARK.

/Not really a UCC member/christian now, as my own views have wandered.//I'm probably a Pratchettist if anything.

"As far as this church being against gays, that's absurdity. There are 18 people in this church who have been delivered, they're not homosexual anymore, but if they were they could still stay in the church," she said.

TofuTheAlmighty:"As far as this church being against gays, that's absurdity. There are 18 people in this church who have been delivered, they're not homosexual anymore, but if they were they could still stay in the church," she said.Way to shred your already-negligible credibility.

Once you have convinced yourself that eternal hellfire awaits you, there is nothing you can't excuse in the name of your faith. That is why religions are so questionable as moral authority to any rational person.

"As far as this church being against gays, that's absurdity. There are 18 people in this church who have been delivered, they're not homosexual anymore, but if they were they could still stay locked in the church," she said.

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." (Matt. 6:6)

These are the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What is immediately obvious to us is His direction to go into the closet and shut the door. What we do not see right away in this Renaissance English translation is that in the original Aramaic the word "schlesht" referred to a secured place in a large house or compound. Often these would lock from the outside so valuables could be secured and left. Indeed, the expression "shut thy door" says.....other things....

He is to be locked in the closet and he should pray until he is restored. If he is free to run the streets he might well gay someone.

Felgraf:... Having grown up in a church that was open and affirming (United Church of Christ), to the point of having attended a gay marriage ceremony, presided over by our pastors, when I was *five* (Mostly I remember being bored to tears, but, five), stuff like this always confuses the SHIAT out of me.

I realize now the UCC is a bit of a minority when it comes to churches (what with a history of being highly liberal and pro rights for all... to the point of appointing openly gay pastors as early as 1972), but, WHAT THE FARK.

/Not really a UCC member/christian now, as my own views have wandered.//I'm probably a Pratchettist if anything.

me too on the Pratchettist/ thinking of getting the Summoning Dark tattooed on my wrist

Homosexuality is a Learned Behaviour. The instinct for sex involves thrusting and groping and kissing and so forth. If you get horny at the sight of a naked man, or if you get horny at the sight of a naked woman, it is only because you have been taught to make that association.

letrole:Homosexuality is a Learned Behaviour. The instinct for sex involves thrusting and groping and kissing and so forth. If you get horny at the sight of a naked man, or if you get horny at the sight of a naked woman, it is only because you have been taught to make that association.

Hey, LeTrole, I keep asking you for your nude pics, but you never send them to me. I'm getting the feeling you've been teasing me.

Ugh, Word of Faith. These are also the yahoos who spout the "prosperity gospel". Jesus wants you to be rich and wear fancy clothes and drive fancy cars; and if you're poor, you're just not praying hard enough.

letrole:Homosexuality is a Learned Behaviour. The instinct for sex involves thrusting and groping and kissing and so forth. If you get horny at the sight of a naked man, or if you get horny at the sight of a naked woman, it is only because you have been taught to make that association.

letrole:Homosexuality is a Learned Behaviour. The instinct for sex involves thrusting and groping and kissing and so forth. If you get horny at the sight of a naked man, or if you get horny at the sight of a naked woman, it is only because you have been taught to make that association.

-5 for obvious trolliness. Cause I usually fall for trolls and I caught this one. But maybe I'm getting internetier? OK -2 cause my internets might be getting stronger. But then you have a frenchy sounding troll name, so it's not like you're trying to hide it. We'll break even on this one...0 internets. Ok Ok, you caught somebody a few posts down from yours. +2 trolly internets. Damn you drive a hard bargain.

HOPEFULLY this case will go better than most of the other cases where folks have been unlawfully imprisoned by dominionists in churches.

Admittedly, almost all the other cases involve kids, and this involves someone over 18, and this is a criminal rather than a civil suit. With the case being in the Southeast, though, I always worry about the possibility that it'll be held up for years and punishment whittled away until a pro-dominionist sympathetic judge is found (a la the Laura Schubert case--which the Assemblies of God tied up in the court system for fourteen years in appeals until the verdict was outright tossed by the Texas Supreme Court--and in part by a judge that has been particularly notorious as being "pro-Bible-based-cult" in his rulings (he also pretty much was responsible for the lawsuit by ex-FLDS members against Warren Jeffs being thrown out in Texas). Still, though, it's notoriously difficult to get charges against "Bible-based" coercive religious groups, even in cases of frank religiously motivated child abuse.